Comments on: Firing a client

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:48:59 +0000

Frankie – I’m pleased you found the article helpful! To answer your question about warning bells before taking on a project, that’s actually a topic I’ve been giving thought to recently myself. I have a post in draft which will be going up on the site in a few days titled “choosing clients who help your business”, which touches on the theme.

A graphic designer friend recently shared with me a nugget from Milton Glaser, who said something to the effect of: choose clients who nourish your creative spirit, not those who sap it. I think that’s a very worthwhile piece of advice.

By: Frankie

Frankie — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 02:55:23 +0000

This and your other two articles on time management & educating your clients are really terrific. I’ve been running my own firm a little over two years now and have gone through my share of growing pains. The first year problems were more of acquiring clients, learning to write proposals and quotes, establishing pricing and my own best practices (ie, always do this, never do that, make sure that is in the contract…) The second year has been more of fine tuning the management of clients, my time, my work load and further tweaking my billing & contracts (ie, profit margins). It seems the growing never stops.

I was desperately searching the web tonight looking for some expert advice on dealing with bad clients when I came across your articles. Thank you for helping to reassure me that yes, I am sane, clients do actually behave this way.

In two short years I think i have encountered every type of client you mentioned above but struggled with justifying my irritation. So again, thanks for putting it in writing. I think I might just print this and make them part of my private operating policy.

I agree that cutting these types of clients out make for far better productivity. I wonder though, how do you deal with clients that give you the red flag during the consultation. I recently had a client that asked me “how well prepared are you to deal with emergencies” this was a big red flag in my book but I took the client anyway because of the large size of the job. Now I am kicking my self because this clients emergencies are my big, exhausting problems. Do you look for red flags and do you act on them, or do you take a wait in see attitude, or do you build precautions into the contract?

-Sleeping better tonight in NY…Thanks!

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:49:45 +0000

@Morgan - Not fun is right! Hope it works out OK for you. I'm sure if you do end up having to fire your client that you will feel better for it afterwards. The forum I was referring to is Australian InFront.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:08:41 +0000

Thanks for the great article. I’m in the process of likely having to fire a client in the next few days – not fun. I’m also based in Australia and was wondering if you could link me to the Australian web design forum you mentioned in the article. Thanks in advance.

By: Jermayn Parker

Jermayn Parker — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 05:42:02 +0000

Well I just had my first client that ended badly and unfortunately for the hosters I go through, they are still dealing with _____.

It has definately made me re-think a few things like disclosures and the what not.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:02:13 +0000

I’ve only had to really do that once, and they were getting ready to move on in another direction as well so it worked out fine. We worked together for a little over 2 years but gradually over time they started to annoy me.

Those ones that are sort of a pain, just quote a little higher then clients you like to make up for the extra stress they cause. But at the end of the day it’s a good position to be able to pick and choose your clients.

Thanks for another great article!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:43:58 +0000

Great tips, I have only been in this position once and was absolutely essential as the client was rude and sometimes aggressive in his emails and phone calls but even so it was a hard decision to make.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:36:15 +0000

@Jermayn – Word of mouth is how I get most of my work too. The ratio of good clients to duds seems much higher when the prospective client has been referred by another client, but I’ve still had a few duds sneak through!

By: Jermayn Parker

Jermayn Parker — Thu, 24 May 2007 02:58:53 +0000

Not had to do that yet and hopefully I will not either. BUT at the moment most of my clients have been directed towards me via word of mouth…

Thanks for the article and heads up incase it happens